Courtesy Al Wahda
Courtesy Al Wahda

Sport

Al Wahda’s already solid midfield gets reinforcements from Dibba

Ahmed and Hadi, both 26, make their move from the relegated Dibba on three-year contracts,it was officially announced Tuesday at the Grand Millennium Hotel Al Wahda.

Amith Passela
Amith Passela

August 16, 2016

ABU DHABI // Tariq Ahmed and Naser Abdulhadi will add depth to Al Wahda’s already solid midfield that includes Jorge Valdivia, the Chile international, and Balazs Dzsudzsak, the Hungary captain, who will be officially unveiled as the club’s new foreign signing on Wednesday.

Ahmed and Abdulhadi, both 26, make their moves from Dibba on three-year contracts, it was officially announced Tuesday at the Grand Millennium Hotel Al Wahda.

“With Dibba, I was battling for them to stay in the top flight, and now at Wahda, I’m going to fight for trophies,” Ahmed said. “I am so proud and honoured to be a player of Wahda. They are one of the big names in UAE football. Needless to say I will do my best for them to challenge for all the titles.”

Abdulhadi added: “Wahda is a big team with some very high-profile players, both Emiratis and foreigners. I’m looking forward to a fresh start with them, and perhaps the opportunity for me to be with a champion team.”

Dr Jamal Al Hosni, a member of the club’s board of directors, believes the two local signings will add more muscle to their midfield.

“They are two outstanding players,” he said. “Other than that, we have addressed a lot of our needs during this summer transfer window.

“We have signed, I think, two experienced players. Naser is a stand-out player with excellent defensive skills, ability to deny entry passes, make strong tackles and to transfer his defensive play to offensive moves instantaneously.”

Abdulhadi spent one season at Emirates and one at Ajman before moving to Dibba, while Ahmed had spells at Al Jazira and Al Wasl before moving to Dibba.

“Tariq is an explosive player possessing high skill levels and creative play. Overall, I think they are both going to fit in very well with our outfit.”

Wahda won the Arabian Gulf Cup and finished third in the league last season to clinch a play-off spot in the 2017 Asian Champions League.

Dzsudzsak completes their foreign quartet that include Valdivia, Korean Rim Chang-woo and Argentine Sebastian Tagliabue, the league’s top scorer and foreign player of the year last season.

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The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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